Television Writing

If you're an aspiring television writer, you've probably tried your hand at writing some episodes for the latest series on TV. You may have sent one of the scripts to a series producer and waited anxiously for some career-changing response. That script was most likely returned, unopened, with a form letter attached: "Sorry, we don't read unsolicited material." Or, if you were lucky, a personal note: "We already have something similar in work." Or any variant thereof. Sound familiar? Then you've discovered the reality of script submission—the producer of a current series is the wrong person to send an original script, and the unsolicited TV episode is the least likely to be sold. A series producer is concerned about Nielsen ratings, deadline pressures, and network paranoia. He or she has no time to nurture an unsold writer or to develop an unassigned script. Moreover, a series producer usually assigns scripts to "heavyweights" early in the development season. These are writers who have worked successfully in the genre, who are adaptive in story conferences, who are fast and reliable in meeting script deadlines. Other variables come into play as well. While you've written an hilarious episode taking place in a country school house, the network has already decreed that the series must be less slapstick, more urban, more relevant, more romantic, etc. There may also be shifts in character emphasis with less stress on the lead, and greater emphasis on two minor characters in the series.